Letterman’s Retirement Announcement Was Perfect

David Letterman announced to his audience and the world yesterday that he will be retiring next year as host of The Late Show. He didn’t announce an official date yet saying “It’ll be, I think, at least a year or so, but sometime in the not-too-distant future. 2015 for the love of God, in fact, Paul and I will be wrapping things up and taking a hike.”

Dave will turn 67 in just a few weeks on April 12th. He has been doing the show since he was 34. In those 30+ years Dave has done 4,014 shows with CBS and prior to that 1,810 with NBC. Which is INSANE to me. To hold a gig for that long is extremely impressive and rare. Especially working in television in the last decade or so. So much change! Just ask Conan.

Letterman is still hands down one of the best in the late night game right now. So quick, so witty. I honestly don’t think this is a matter of him “losing it” or not being able to keep up with the young guys like Fallon and Kimmel as some people are saying. To me this really seems like a genuine life decision by Dave to just retire. Simple as that. Just like anyone else at any other job would do at that age.

As expected there were some funny moments during Dave’s announcement, like when Paul Shaffer joked, “You actually did this? Do I have a minute to call my accountant?” And then Dave joking,“What this means now, is that Paul and I can be married.”

It will be sad to see Dave go, but what a career it was for him. One of the best. Thanks, Dave.

Now the question becomes who will replace Dave? There have been some names buzzing around the internet in the last 24 hours.

Who do you think should replace Letterman? Vote now in the poll below.